Surrounded by Karoo koppies (hills) that form part of the Karee
mountains, one finds Carnarvon, an attractive and fascinating Karoo village in
the Northern Cape province of South Africa.

Carnarvon
and surrounds charm visitors with magnetic hospitality, good traditional food, a
history steeped in land conflict and mission work (mostly Rhenish missionary
history). The former, combined with unique architecture, hundreds of windmills
and vistas of flat topped hills, gave Carnarvon and district a unique charm that
lures visitors to experience all of this in the peace and quiet of this sparsely
populated land.

The
San-Bushmen that roamed the area hundreds of years ago used the typical Karoo
hills for ceremonial events such as initiation rites. The San were hunter-gatherers and their lifestyle and culture could not survive in an era when
migrating livestock farmers moved into the region. The game that they depended
on for their livelihood became scarce as the large herds of domestic animals
competed with the game for grazing. At the same time hunters with firearms
killed off large numbers of game. The result was that the San started killing
domestic animals for food with resulting reprisal raids carried out by the livestock
farmers. The San clans that did not move away, started working for the
livestock farmers and their culture was lost for ever. The only evidence
that remains today of
their presence is the thousands of rock engravings on the black boulders of the Karoo.

The
livestock farmers comprised a wide variety of cultures such as white European trekboers, Basters, Khoi, Koranna and Xhosa. A Xhosa community under British
protection established themselves during the early 1800's at Schietfontein, a
local water resource. The farmers competed, even violently, with each other to
secure enough grazing for their livestock.

Britain,
in its role as coloniser also tried to exert its influence. It it is therefore
no wonder that the history of Carnarvon has been described as one that is
hallmarked by the most enthralling interactions between migrating tribes and the
British colonial authorities. Even the village's original name, Harmsfontein,
was changed to Carnarvon to honour the British colonial secretary, Lord
Carnarvon. Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, the fourth Earl of
Carnarvon (8131-1890), studied for his BA degree at the University of Oxford,
became under secretary of Colonies in 1858 and State Secretary in 1866.

Present day Lord Carnarvon
(George Reginald Oliver Molyneux Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon) and Lady
Carnarvon lives in Highclere castle. More about the interesting
history of the family as well as many photos can be found
HERE

In the
gallery below, a few present day gardens in Carnarvon are shown (October 2010)